Updates & Mother's Day Fun

Bella has been doing so well. As you'll notice in this post I have a lot of good news to share. 

Day +40

We have been getting outside a lot! It is the safest place for Bella to be at this point. Bella's counts have continued to remain stable and are looking great. Her ANC is staying well above 1000. 

Day + 44 (walking around UofC campus parks)

As of today (day +45) Bella is officially off all Meds given by IV! This is so awesome! We can spend all day outside if we wanted to, no IV pole to follow us around. Now, her central line is used for mainly blood draws which they are usually doing 3-5 times per week to check her levels and counts. Now that all her meds are given "orally" (directly to her tummy via her Gtube) it's been a little harder on her tummy. But we are doing our best to space her meds better throughout the day and give her tummy breaks from too many at once. 

Day +45

Can  you tell she's been in hospital for a while? She is content with the mask while we go down the hallway to outside, and if you look closely at her hand... Yes that is her med syringe. She likes to play with them, a lot. 

It has been 1 month and 2 weeks since Bella's BMT. And on Friday it was exactly 1 month since she engrafted. So far we haven't heard anything from Bella's donor, but that's ok. Still a lot of restriction on contact right now. I ask our team of she's called to check on Bella's status (which she can) but our team has no details to relay on that at the present time. I really do hope we get to meet her in the future.

Some rare good news: Bella has not needed any IVIGs in the last few weeks! This is rare, since it it common for kids after transplant to need this immune boost for the first 6 months post BMT. But Bella's body is already maintaining its own IGG adequate level! This is a very good sign meaning that her new cells are doing great. 

Bella's next look at her new cell function and how her new immune system is working is on day +60 (end of May). This is called her Immune Recon. Panel Test. This will give her doctors a real good look at how her cells are functioning. After this test is when they will think more about discharging us.

Lyle posted this on Facebook this week and my response made for quite a good joke: 

My response: 

LOL.... Ahhhh.... Yep. 

So seeing as we are closer to discharge, our nurses are preparing me for Bella's Central Line care! Yep, this will all be done by me when we are discharged, so I gotta start practicing now. I have already done her sterile dressing change, cap change and this coming week I'll be learning how to Hephrine Lock her lines. 

Like I said before, I bet I'd do a pretty good job at challenging a RN test if that was possible. Haha Anyway, Bella needs to keep her Broviak IV (in her chest) for quite a while still. They will continue to do a lot of blood work for months to come. And heaven forbid she gets sick, but these lines are life savers when needing to start Antibiotics ASAP. It's quite nerve racking to take on her full line care, but hay! I'm up for the challenge, bring it on! The dressing change involves cleaning and securing the line on her chest. The cap change involves untwisting the cap at the end of her line, the line that leads directly to her heart, cleaning around that area and putting a new one on. The Hep lock means injecting this, only so far into her line in a certain way so her line stays accessible and doesn't clog when they need to draw blood. 

Mothers Day

Day +45

Today we went on a super long walk with daddy too and fed some momma n baby geese. They were so cute! Bella is loving being outside more. She dances, bounces and babbles in her stroller. She loves to get out and walk as well. 

This is what I posted on FB today. It weighs heavy on my heart, knowing  what heart ache this day can actually bring. And I hope it's transformed into peace. A beautiful friend of mine (Bradie) sent me a good read today for all the strong hospital Mommas. It's is a good read: 

http://uofmhealthblogs.org/childrens/hero-stories/to-mom-of-child/22562/ 

Mothers Day Spa Day & High Tea at Fairmont Paliser Hotel, Calgary. 

The Ronald McDonald House treated us moms to a beautiful spa day last week. They spoiled us and it was so sweet. 

We took a Limo to the most beautiful hotel in Calgary.

We were treated to the entire spa pool, sauna and hot tub area, and high tea in the Historic Rimrock Room restaurant with the original fireplace in tact and untouched. We were served a beautiful lunch with the tea and then wisked away for massages and pedicures! 

The egg pic is my first taste of Caviar. 

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely momma's that I know in my life.